Wildfires in South Korea are the largest and deadliest on record, having burned more forest and killed more people than any previous blaze, officials said yesterday, as the death toll reached 27.
More than a dozen fires broke out over the weekend, scorching wide swathes of the southeast and forcing about 37,000 people to flee, with the fire cutting off roads and downing communications lines as residents escaped in panic.
The South Korean Ministry of Interior and Safety said that 27 people had been killed and dozens more injured, with the toll likely to rise.
Photo: AFP
It is the highest number of deaths since the Korea Forest Service began records for wildfires in 1987.
More than 35,000 hectares of forest have been burned, Lee Han-kyung, disaster and safety division chief said, adding that the fire was still spreading “rapidly.”
The extent of damage makes it South Korea’s largest ever wildfire, after an inferno in April 2000 that scorched 23,913 hectares across the east coast.
Photo: AP
Authorities said changing wind patterns and dry weather had revealed the limitations of conventional firefighting methods.
Many of those killed were residents — in particularly elderly people.
At least three firefighters were killed, and a pilot in a firefighting helicopter died when his aircraft crashed in a mountain area, officials said.
Photo: REUTERS
Last year was South Korea’s hottest year on record, although temperatures in the months running up to the blaze had been colder than last year, and in line with the country’s 30-year average, Korea Meteorological Administration data showed.
However, the fire-hit region had been experiencing unusually dry weather with below-average precipitation, authorities said.
Some types of extreme weather have a well-established link with climate change, such as heat waves or heavy rainfall.
Other phenomena, such as forest fires, droughts, snowstorms and tropical storms can result from a combination of complex factors.
“This wildfire has once again exposed the harsh reality of a climate crisis unlike anything we’ve experienced before,” Lee said.
“The affected areas have seen only half the average rainfall, coupled with unusually strong winds, which have drastically accelerated the spread of the fire and intensified the damage,” he said.
Yeh Sang-wook, professor of climatology at Seoul’s Hanyang University, said that the lack of rainfall had dried out the land “creating favorable conditions for wildfires.”
“We can’t say that it’s only due to climate change, but climate change is directly [and] indirectly affecting the changes we are experiencing now. This is a sheer fact,” Yeh said.
However, another expert, Hong Suk-hwan at Pusan National University’s Department of Landscape Architecture, said the country’s forest management practices also took some blame.
South Korea has prioritized the preservation of large pine trees — packed with oily resin — above allowing a variety of deciduous trees to thrive, he said.
“If a fire breaks out, would it spread more easily on wet paper or dry paper soaked in oil? Our forests are essentially covered in oil-soaked paper, creating an environment where wildfires can spread at an alarming speed,” Hong said.
Were South Korea to have cultivated more deciduous trees in a natural mixed forest it “would slow wildfire spread and prevent it from escalating,” he added.
A 200-year-old pine tree at Bongjeongsa temple in Andong — the oldest wooden structure in South Korea and a UNESCO-listed site — was cut down in a bid to preserve the temple itself.
“We had no choice but to cut it down... The fire is spreading rapidly from one pine tree to another,” the chief monk said.
At UNESCO-listed Byeongsan Seowon, a former Confucian academy, the sky was hazy, with fire trucks spraying water and fire retardants onto the historic site in a desperate bid to save it.
“We are spraying three tonnes of water every day,” said Lee Seung-myung from the Andong fire department.
Choi Young-ho, a firefighter at the heritage site, said that they were at the mercy of the wind.
“If there is a strong wind, it will carry flames from afar — a very worrisome situation,” he said.
Rain was forecast for late yesterday, potentially giving authorities a much-needed window to extinguish the blazes.
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